Something For All Of Us...

More fun and more listenable than anyone could have expected.

The latest in a series that's now produced two very good albums, Something For All Of Us... succeeds on many levels and is a testament to Brendan Canning as a solo songwriter and not just as a member of a very succesful band.

Canning's effort, however, is a bit of a departure, as he assumes the mostly unfamiliar lead-vocalist role. It suits him well.

Although it's loud in places, it doesn't sound as overstuffed as the past couple releases from the group, and that's a nice change.

Mostly, Something lives up to its everyman title by removing the truly heart-pounding moments of a BSS record and replacing them with a sense of community, easy friendship, and a kickass guitar pedal collection.

Even if it's a challenge to get to know any of these tracks individually, most reward the effort, making sense of what initially sounds like a frivolous mess.

Something for All of Us... manages to connect without really saying much, which is tough to pull off, even for a veteran of one of the underground rock league's most beloved teams.

Great sleepy Sunday-afternoon music, but it could have been more than that.

Canning's murmuring vocals are more intriguing than engaging, so the album's most memorable qualities are hidden in songs that just tend to drift off.

Throughout, Canning aspires to the rousing anthems that have made Broken Social Scene one of the best acts of the last decade, but he falls short. He’s certainly not a lemon in the BSS product line; he’s just an underwhelming model. [Summer 2008]

Something For All Of Us isn't going to change anything for any of us--Canning will go back to doing whatever it is he does in Broken Social Scene, Drew will remain its fire eye'd leader, and the Presents... series is profoundly unlikely to shift a single unit to anyone not already a BSS fan. But in his own quiet way Canning has both proved and defined himself.

Canning's voice is not the strongest--indeed, it often stays buried deep down within the mix--but if you're a fan of Broken Social Scene, you'll know that it's atmosphere that's all important. Which is something that Something For All Of Us has in spades.

The second in command of the good ship Broken Social Scene, for quite some time he’s been in the shadows of the band’s co-founder Kevin Drew.

Something... is sumptuously produced art-rock, heavily influenced by Sonic Youth and Dinosaur, Jr., but presented with a fresh-faced optimism. [Sep 2008, p.141

It's all tenderly delivered and definatly indie--both sonically and spiritually. [Oct 2008, p.113]